Bill Daly - The Lough Corrib Boatmen

The Lough Corrib Boatmen

Lough Corrib is the second largest sheet of inland freshwater in Ireland. Because of the Bann Flakes (small stone tools) which were found in 1975 and again in 1984 at River Island, where the Owenriff River flows into Lough Corrib, Oughterard can claim a pedigree to be amongst a very small number of places in Ireland where the first settlers to this country came to live and build their homes, almost 7,000 years ago. I will now move forward over 7,000 years to Oughterard of the 1930’s and take a look at the Corrib Boatmen. They became celebrated in 1960 after the publication of T.C. Kingsmill Moore’s book ‘A Man May Fish’, which is still held in high renown across the world. Kingsmill Moore was a most distinguished judge of the Irish High Court and of the Supreme Court and he had played a part in Irish political life as a member of the Senate. When he came to Oughterard to fish Lough Corrib in 1926, Jamesie Donnellan and Jimmy McDonagh from Billamore would be his Boatmen for the next 10 years. In the early years, Jimmy was in charge of the rowing and Jamesie dispensed the technical information. After Jamesie had passed away, Jimmy combined both of these positions.

Kingsmill Moore fished many of the lakes across Ireland, and it would be unusual for the Boatmen to get more than a couple of lines of reference. However, TC was so enamored at the skill and knowledge of Jamesie and Jimmy that he devoted two full chapters to them – Lough Corrib and Jamesie (Chapter 11) and the Wisdom of Jamesie (Chapter 12). It is a wonderful testament to two local Boatmen from Oughterard and we should be very proud of them. I will now ask the question – was there a continuity of tradition between the Mesolithic fishermen and The Corrib Boatmen? Did that original skill make its way down through all the millennia to the present day? Baurisheen is the most northerly of the Oughterard townlands and its eastern side is a window that overlooks Lough Corrib. Baurisheen became the epicenter of professional fishing in the area with the advent of the famed Corrib Bell Fishermen. The Corrib Bell fishermen used a smaller single boat called a punt or bricin, and was usually about 14 feet in length. This was essentially a single boat and a much smaller craft than the subsequent Lake Boat of 18 to 19 feet when the tourist economy came along. There hazel poles with thirty foot lines were trolled at the back of the boat, and a bell rang at the top of the hazel rod when a fish struck the line. The punt was

John Oliver Molloy and his grandson Kai making memories on the Lough Corrib

JAMESIE DONNELLAN, BILLAMORE

“All the corrib boatmen were good. They knew the lake as a landowner knows his own demesne. But Jamesie knew it as a blind man knows the house he lives in, with absolute certainty. Though he could not see the bottom he could sense it, and in a shallow a mile long could smell his way to the few square yards which constituted a pet spot.”

very popular and every house in Baurisheen probably had a couple. A look at the census records show that there were on average a couple of fisherman in every house. I also came across some data from 1905 that showed 50 people in the area working as fisherman, and they would have to catch an average of 10 lbs (4.5kg) per day to make it economical. I am told that the Baurisheen fishermen never feared the weather as they knew every inch of the lake and were also very knowledgeable to changing weather conditions. As a precaution they would always take some wrapped up cake out with them and some paraffin to light a fire if they had to stay on one of the islands overnight due to inclement weather. Nobody in Baurisheen worried if they didn’t come back at night as they had the reputation of being skillful and fearless fishermen. I am deeply indebted to John Oliver Molloy. John Oliver, from Bauriseen, has been working as a Boatman on Lough Corrib over many decades out of Currarevagh House. He is one of nature’s gentlemen, and his insightful knowledge, wisdom and experience has helped me enormously. I asked John Oliver recently why the Corrib Boatmen were always held in high esteem, and he told me that all the good Boatmen came from the ranks of the original Bell Fishermen, who knew the Lake like the back of their hand. He also remarked that the Corrib Boatmen have never had a fatality when they take people out fishing. Then we spoke about the tragedy of the Famine in Oughterard in that the river and lake were full of fish, but because people became dependant on the potato, nobody knew how to fish anymore. Interestingly, there are no records of anybody dying in Baurisheen of hunger during the Famine and they may have fished their way out of this tragic time, using fishing skills acquired over many thousands of years. ☘

BILL DALY

Originally from Tallow in West Waterford, Bill spent 30 years in Cork as a Senior Manager in the Electronics Manufacturing industry with such companies as Apple, EMC and Logitech. He has been working on his own as a Consultant/Contractor in Manufacturing Operations and Materials for the past 18 years. He also attended UCC and has a BA Degree in Archaeology and Geography. Bill resides in Connemara, Co. Galway since 2009.

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